Fort Box film, touching story of childhood, goes online

Prepare for lumpy throats and celebrations. Fort Box, Dom Lee’s touching story about childhood, has gone online after an extensive festival run.

The film saw Dom collect 3000 boxes. They were stored in 3 garages, 2 sheds, and 1 spare room. And they made up what could be a record-breaking fort that was the ambitious physical focus of the film.

Crediton box quest

Dom visited most of the shops on Crediton High Street on his box quest. He also had them donated.

“I’ve had enough of boxes to be honest,” Dom told D&CFilm.

For an idea that first started being slotted together in 2013 he may have a point. But Dom’s relationship with boxes is not yet over.

During the filmmaking process, Dom wrangled with the council to find a site for the fort, had great support from the community, and even visited a Sailsbury venue that later become embroiled in an espionage murder plot.

Ambitious project

“It’s by far the most ambitious project I’ve ever attempted. It was a steep learning curve,” said Dom.

Along with making a film, Dom was also taking role of an events manager, which was also quite challengeing.

He organised visiting schools, a shoot in a hospital and 250 people helping to build the massive fort – it was a real community effort.

Exeter premiere

After a premiere at the the 2017 Two Short Nights festival in Exeter, Fort Box was seleted for 20 festivals throughout the world. It won in the 5-30 minute section at the Norfolk Film Festival. And Christina Hardy, who played the mum, won best actress at the 2018 Riviera Film Festival.

Would Dom change anything?

“I’ll probably more selective in the future about which ones to go for,” he said. But a special mention goes to English Riviera Film Festival organiser John Tomkins.

“One of the nice things he did, even if you weren’t selected he did send feedback out to people, with a nice line about what the panel liked about the film.”

Reach all those involved

A joy of the interent release is that it can reach all the people who were involved with the film.

“Fort Box is film in Crediton, my home town,” said Dom. “And the idea was to try and get people involved who wouldn’t necessarily be involved in a film.

“When we built the fort we had 250 people come along, so it was potentially 250 people who might want to watch the film to see if they can spot themselves and hopefully get a share of their friends and family.”

There was a Crediton premiere, and now with the film online Dom hopes all those who had a hand in the film can watch and share the emotional story.

And is that the end of the Fort Box saga for Dom – it’s a strong story, and he has a strong connection with the boxes, and there has been talk of another step in the saga. Watch Fort Box.